Alice Lang, mild and meek, goes onto Bob Sparker's game show to try her luck. But this show's called "Shock 'Til You Drop," and the host straps his contestants down in his electric chair to see how much they can take! The higher the voltage, the hig...
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Alice Lang clung to the pole, pale and unsteady. She was already feeling sick from stress, and the rocking motions of the bus weren't helping at all. What was the staff going to do if she showed up looking like this? Would they have to cancel the show? Maybe they'd have another contestant lined up, and she could just come back some other day...no, she thought, they'd have to change their whole schedule around for that, and she wasn't worth the fuss.
She took a deep breath and held it tight in her chest, her eyes staring out one of the grimy windows. Better to just calm down. You don't want to look sick, she told herself, not on your big day.
The bus rounded a turn and began its slow climb up the ramp that led to the highest tier of the city. Electricopolis was a city built in layers: the maintenance tier below, the residential stages above, and, up top, the commerce and entertainment district. Like a wedding cake, each level was roughly ring-shaped and smaller than the one below. Alice herself lived in a little rowhouse squarely in the most middling part of town. She had often traveled up top to press her face against the windows and drink in the lights and sound, but tonight she gripped the pole as if it were her first time away from home.
As the bus bumped its way up over the top of the ramp, light flooded into the bus. About a hundred feet away, some of the television studios towered high into the air, their sides covered with huge screens that blazed commercials into the black sky. Billboards jutted out into the center plaza, and one of them displayed THE LIGHT OF YOUR LIFE: TOP TIER ELECTRIC CO. before shifting to a cosmetics advertisement. A little closer, she could see the storefront windows and their clean, bright interiors, all white walls and glass.
The bus groaned to a halt about ten feet into the plaza. Alice and one or two other people stepped out onto the stones, and it turned right around and headed back down to the darkness it came from.
She clutched the rumpled set of directions in her fist, though she'd memorized them anyway. She began the trek to the buildings on the other side of the square, weaving through crowded sidewalks until she found the studio she needed. She barely had time to show her confirmation before someone grabbed her hand and yanked her inside.
As she was rushed down the hall, she struggled to make herself heard. "Excuse me," she said nervously, tottering down the corridor as the production assistants pushed her forward. "Can I just-I mean, may I just-"
"Sorry, but we're running a little behind," a tall, nosy lady sighed, tugging at Alice's hair with a stiff-bristled brush. "Takes and retakes, that sort of thing."
"But we can fit you in. Not that way," another person scolded, grabbing Alice's arm and sternly pulling her back in the group. "That's the way to the green room. You were there last time, weren't you?"
